Anti-Suit Injunctions in International Arbitration

IAI Series No. 2

The International Arbitration Institute (IAI) series on international arbitration is a new periodic series of publications that will focus on cutting edge issues and developments in international arbitration.

About the IAI:
The International Arbitration Institute (IAI), an organization created under the auspices of the Comité Français de l'Arbitrage (CFA), was created to promote exchanges in international arbitration. The IAI is designed to promote exchanges on current issues in the field of international commercial arbitration. Its activities include the regular organization of international conferences, colloquiums, as well as conducting various research projects.

Anti-suit injunctions are a device, originally found in common law countries, whereby a court - which retains its jurisdiction or anticipates to do so and which seeks to protect that jurisdiction or, more generally, the jurisdiction of the forum it deems to be the most appropriate - orders a party to refrain from bringing a claim before the courts of another State or before an arbitral tribunal or, if the party has already brought such a claim, orders that party to withdraw from, or the arbitrators to suspend, the proceedings.
In the past few years, the use of anti-suit injunctions in the context of international arbitration has been spreading at a disturbing pace. The courts of many common law countries but also those of civil law tradition frequently resort to this device at a party's request, in order to disrupt the arbitration process or resist the enforcement of the award.

How best to resolve those conflicts arising as a result of national courts' differing perspectives on the validity and scope of certain arbitration agreements? Are anti-suit injunctions in conformity with the requirements of public international law? When the courts of certain States enjoin a party to refrain from proceeding with an arbitration, should other courts enjoin them not to enjoin, or should they, like the U.S. Court of Appeal for the 5th Circuit in the Pertamina case, exercise a commandable "self-restriction"? These are just a few of the issues addressed in Anti-Suit Injunctions in International Arbitration.

Praise for Anti-Suit Injunctions in International Arbitration

"This book, number 2 in the IAI Series on International Arbitration, is the most
comprehensive work to date on a topic that attracts more and more attention among
arbitration practitioners: injunctions issued by courts or arbitral tribunals ordering a
party to refrain from pursuing proceedings in another forum."
- ASA Bulletin

About the Contributors:
- Emmanuel Gaillard, Shearman & Sterling, Paris (See Above)
- Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, Former President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Former Deputy Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State and Burling Professor of International Law at the School of Advanced International Studies of The John Hopkins University (Washington).
- Axel H. Baum, Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Paris. He is the United States Member of ICC International Court of Arbitration.
- Julian D.M. Lew, Partner, Herbert Smith, London. He is also a director of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), Chairman of Arbitration Practice Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Working Party on Intellectual Property Disputes in Arbitration.
- Michael E. Schneider, Partner, Lalive & Partners, Geneva. He is one of the Vice-Chairs of the ICC Arbitration Commission, the Leader of its Forum on Arbitration and New Fields and was a member of the ICC Working Parties on the revision of the Arbitration Rules, on Construction Arbitration and on the Pre-Arbitral Referee Procedure. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA).
- Matthieu de Boisséson, Partner, Darrois Villey, Paris. He is a Fellow, ICC Institute of Business Law and Practice and a Member of the Executive Committee of the 'Comité Français de l'Arbitrage'.
- José Carlos Fernández Rozas, Madrid; Professor (Catedrático), Private International Law, University Complutense of Madrid.
- Laurent Levy, Partner, Schellenberg Wittmer, Geneva. Former Chairman, Société Genevoise de Droit et de Législation.
- Konstantinos D. Kerameus, Athens; is Professor of Civil Procedure at Athens University School of Law. Since 1985 he is the Vice-President of the Greek Arbitration Association; and since 1986 the Vice-President of the Greek Association of Civil Procedure.
- The Late Philippe Fouchard, Professor University of Panthéon-Assas Paris II. He was Editor of the Revue de l'Arbitrage.
- Christopher J. Greenwood, Essex Court Chambers, London. Professor of International Law, London School of Economics.